I’m reminded of a cool fall morning before a big deployment to the Joint Readiness Training Center. Then-Colonel and 101st Airborne Division Strike Brigade Commander Robert L. Caslen (now Lt. Gen Caslen, 59th Superintendent of West Point) told his favorite Rocky movie story in his own very Connecticut Yankee accent to psyche us up. Rocky Balboa explains his love for Adrian: “She’s got gaps, I got gaps. Together we fill gaps.” That was Caslen’s way of understanding and explaining synergy to a bunch of grunts: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Working together, we can accomplish more than we can individually.
SECuRUTIY CLEARANCE GAPS
Here’s how Senator John Tester says it to NSA Director Admiral Michael Rogers: Dear Admiral Rogers . . . I’m troubled that [Harold] Martin’s arrest once again exposes the significant gaps that continue to exist in our security clearance process. . . . it is important we find out how best to shore up these gaps in order to preserve American security.”
Gaps continue to exist. Preserve American security. NSA public affairs accounts of the Martin breach have been generally more like sighs of relief: essentially, “Well, at least this one didn’t send the stuff to Assange or the Washington Post. He was just a hoarder.” Tester has a completely different tone. Tester’s saying, hey, Mike, are you going to do something here, or are we going to keep hemorrhaging classified information to the world? I’d guess this is the first notice of Rogers’ last chance. Take one more strike, and he’s out.
SEVEN MAGNIFICENT QUESTIONs
What Senator Tester wants from Rogers are answers to a magnificent seven questions that, given the kind of access Martin had, should be pretty easy to answer. Tester wants to know the details of Martin’s employment history, how Martin got his first clearance, when he re-investigated, what justified Martin’s access to the stuff they found in his house—“highly classified information . . . computer codes that permitted . . . intelligence the ability to infiltrate foreign adversaries . . . Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information . . .” and so on.
Tester wants to know when the NSA knew, and what the breach means to our national security. Indeed, the breach is about more than just whether the documents Martin casually removed from NSA HQ without notice went beyond his apartment. As Tester makes clear, Martin’s breach is about cumulative effects. It’s about Manning. It’s about Snowden. It’s about Aaron Alexis. It’s about what the lax security at one of our Nation’s most security facilities means to all those hackers and saboteurs itching to get inside. It’s about the NSA looking more and more like a classified clearing house for the dark web black market.
DON’T HESITATE
Tester closes: “The alleged theft of this sensitive information is incredibly troubling and could have a significant impact on national security operations by the U.S. government.” [understatement]
And Tester tells Rogers and all the world that we shouldn’t hesitate “to contact Stuart Varvel (Stuart_Varvel@Tester.Senate.Gov)” with questions. Seriously, it’s all right there. See for yourself. I’m not hesitating.
“Sincerely, John Tester, U.S. Senator”
